Jacqui Rock, Chief Commercial Officer for NHS England, has published a blog on how collaboration with suppliers is “critical to delivering more value and efficiencies for taxpayers”.
Highlighting that the NHS procures over £30 billion of goods and services each year from over 80,000 suppliers, she adds that she has spent the last six months in discussions with suppliers to gather feedback on their experiences of working with the NHS.
“Suppliers want to be brought to the table earlier so that they can work alongside us to mitigate supply disruption issues, drive sustainability, bring innovation into the NHS, increase value and reduce inefficiency,” Jacqui states. As such, a new vision has been laid out to share how the NHS will work with suppliers going forward.
There are five key aims for the new vision: to shape and leverage the market; to use procurement to drive innovation; to create a more resilient supply chain; to eliminate waste and find efficiencies; and to work together as a community.
Expanding on shaping and leveraging the market, Jacqui acknowledges that there are examples of separate contracts being held with the same supplier with price variations, different specifications and inconsistent performance agreements.
She shares how universal rollout of the e-commerce system Atamis will provide a single overview of the NHS commercial landscape, including the supplier footprint, to enable the NHS to tackle variation and highlight opportunities. In addition, NHSE are establishing a national strategic supplier management programme “to build and enhance relationships and ensure suppliers are bought in up front at strategy development.”
With regards to using procurement to drive innovation, Jacqui highlights a need to make it easier for innovators to get their products through the door. “It won’t always be a one size fits all, but we need to welcome innovation and provide a clear pathway in to ensure we identify the right innovation and then can scale it across the NHS,” she writes. “I have met many SMEs that are also clinicians and their insight and experience in treating patients and using the products that we procure is invaluable, and we need to bring them to the table earlier.”
Looking towards creating a more resilient supply chain, Jacqui notes that a resilient supply chain is critical to support the frontline to get the tools and products they need at the right place and the right time, and early engagement is key in order to work together to act up front and mitigate any risks. This will involve close working with partners at NHS Supply Chain, she adds, to ensure wide availability of supplies and awareness of any potential issues.
When it comes to eliminating waste and finding efficiencies, Jacqui states: “Giving inflationary pressures, there is a clear need to ensure taxpayers’ money is spent well so that we can get more funding to the frontline and where it can have the biggest impact.
“We want to use more technology and innovative products. Suppliers can help us identify where the NHS could be more efficient and deliver greater value through using different products or changing some of our practices.”
Finally, around working together as a community, Jacqui writes: “We have a huge opportunity to make a positive change, but we can’t do it alone. We have to build a community between our NHS commercial teams and our suppliers going forward.”
The NHS Supplier Forum, held for the first time in November, brought together over 200 suppliers and NHS commercial teams to discuss shared challenges and opportunities. This was “just the start of our refreshed journey and our plans for an ongoing strategic supplier relationship management programme.”
